tyeager wrote:I think, but could be mistaken, that national parks are public property but managed by the national park service with rules and regulations. If someone stopped you, which is unlikely since everyone is furloughed.....

I can't speak for other parks but here at Gettysburg, the Park Service law enforcement rangers are "essential" personnel and are on duty. They have been instructed to ask people to leave. I don't know any more about the operational rules, but suspect they could arrest someone for failure to comply with the requirement to leave.

I wondered about how they kept folks off of public roads. Sounds to me like boneheads who run things aren't familiar with the park.

Fishidiot wrote:Yep. We're dealing with the situation as best we can here in Gettysburg. I'll bet that fly shops and guides out around the big western national parks are really worried that, if this lasts a long time, they could suffer financially.

I was at Yellowstone when everything shut down, and people were already being laid off as the Park closed.

pcray1231 wrote:It's obvious you're not SUPPOSED to, since it's impossible not to see the signs.

I won't do it. If I want to fish Valley, I'll do it out of the park. :)

That said, I do agree that the prohibition on entering parks wouldn't hold up under court scrutiny. The government does not own the land. We the people do. We give the government permission to manage it. But in the absence of government, it's still our land.

In the absence of governments, I get it. Trash cans don't get emptied. Bathrooms don't get cleaned. Tours and interpretive walks stop. Gift shops close. Food stands close. Campgrounds shut down. There's nobody to answer historical questions. To protect public property, you can't open the doors to museums, monuments, etc. All the stuff that requires people and money to provide can't happen. I can even understand shutting down the roads and parking areas, if they are taken care of by the park service. If they are state roads, then they stay open.

But people and money don't provide the land itself.

IMO, it should revert from national park to any other public space, like national forests. The National Forest Service, though, doesn't try to tell you that you can't walk in your woods. They may gate many of the temporary roads that are opened and closed frequently. But you can drive the main roads, walk wherever you'd like, fish, hunt, etc.

All of that and there will a lot of tish in the woods, because all the restrooms are closed, what foresight!

pcray1231 wrote:It's obvious you're not SUPPOSED to, since it's impossible not to see the signs.

I won't do it. If I want to fish Valley, I'll do it out of the park. :)

That said, I do agree that the prohibition on entering parks wouldn't hold up under court scrutiny. The government does not own the land. We the people do. We give the government permission to manage it. But in the absence of government, it's still our land.

In the absence of governments, I get it. Trash cans don't get emptied. Bathrooms don't get cleaned. Tours and interpretive walks stop. Gift shops close. Food stands close. Campgrounds shut down. There's nobody to answer historical questions. To protect public property, you can't open the doors to museums, monuments, etc. All the stuff that requires people and money to provide can't happen. I can even understand shutting down the roads and parking areas, if they are taken care of by the park service. If they are state roads, then they stay open.

But people and money don't provide the land itself.

IMO, it should revert from national park to any other public space, like national forests. The National Forest Service, though, doesn't try to tell you that you can't walk in your woods. They may gate many of the temporary roads that are opened and closed frequently. But you can drive the main roads, walk wherever you'd like, fish, hunt, etc.

Pat, for the record the National Forests were closed to, Does the bear poop in the woods? So do the People.